The Panno House

Imagine living your whole life in a suburb of Naples, Italy. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon, you open your tiny grocery store on the off chance someone might need a tomato. In walks a middle aged man with a beautiful young woman less than half his age. You look at them suspiciously, when the man utters the universally understood words, "coca-cola." Taking hold of the bottle the young woman, who is quickly turning green, begins to chug-a-lug. Now imagine you follow them out the door to find another fifteen people bursting from a tour bus with fanny-packs and baseball caps anchored to their bodies. AMERICANS!

In December of 2007, Margaret, Dominic Panno's cousin, died after living a long and healthy life. At Margaret's wake her daughter Mary told Aunt BeBe that she knew of possible descendants of Dominic's mother and father still living near Naples. With help from Mary, her sister Anna (living in Italy), Aunt BeBe's neighbors Dominic and Maria and an unrelated Panno, Rosa, who lives in Castello Di Cisterna (Grandpa's hometown); Aunt BeBe was able to track down Salvatore Caiazzo, Grandpa's nephew. Salvatore is the son of Grandpa's sister Ruby (also known as "Little Cherub").

Salvatore and his wife (Who remembers her name? Please post it here.) were expecting us 3 days earlier so we took them by surprise that Sunday afternoon, but they couldn't have been more gracious. We went through a black gated door that led to a tiled courtyard where an elderly man was hanging his laundry from a balcony. Salvatore then led us through the beaded curtain in front of his door and into his living room. All 17 of us filed in and out of that living room, many of us trying to understand it as our father's, grandfather's and great-grandfather's birthplace. What was this place like at the dawning of the 20th century? Had it changed much? I got the sense that the people were unchanged and unaware of the significant change America had on their Uncle Dominic. Did they understand us as blood relations? It's hard to tell. Was each side being viewed by the other as if behind glass in a museum? To some extent, probably.

After muddling through rough translations (thanks Nicole, Ingrid and Uncle Pat), looking at each others photographs and posing for a picture of a lifetime, it was time to go. We got back in the bus with some regret that we had such little time and little understanding of each other. I futilely gave Salvatore my business card to in an attempt to say, "please keep in touch." I know that won't happen but so much was left unsaid.

So, here's to Dominic, Ruby, Margaret and whoever else might have been watching us that day. Thanks for the family reunion.

Ron